On the surface tension of liquid drops

Abstract

Curvature corrections to the surface tension of spherical fluid-vapour interfaces are studied. A continuum Landau-Ginzburg free energy functional is used to derive a closed-form expression for δ, the first curvature correction to the surface tension of a liquid drop. In this model, capillary wave-like fluctuations produce the only non-zero contribution to δ. It is found that δ is positive and diverges as the correlation length near a critical point.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Philip Phillips

Miller Fellow.